Purpose

To consolidate, disseminate, and gather information concerning the 710 expansion into our San Rafael neighborhood and into our surrounding neighborhoods. If you have an item that you would like posted on this blog, please e-mail the item to Peggy Drouet at pdrouet@earthlink.net

Sunday, October 20, 2013

San Diego (405) Freeway work delayed by faulty retaining walls

Back in December 2011, commuters on the 405 Freeway through the
Sepulveda Pass drove by an unusual sight. A retaining wall built for the
new car-pool lane was collapsing, the gray concrete panels visibly
buckling and falling.

Alarmed by the discovery, construction crews
tore down the wall. At least 14 other walls also came down and were
rebuilt. State officials moved quickly, banning the construction of
similar retaining walls throughout California.

Today, the 405
Freeway project is more than 15 months behind schedule, a timeline that
has Angelenos bemoaning the traffic congestion caused by construction of
the 10-mile car-pool lane.
A federal review quietly released in August of the massive $1
billion project identified the collapsed wall as the “single biggest
factor in extending the completion date to September 2014.” U.S.
Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx also noted that a second major
factor was an unexpected need for relocations of utility lines.

For critics, the Federal Highway Administration review has renewed
concerns about delays surrounding the car-pool lane, and costs
associated with the pushback. Already, the project is more than $100
million over budget. The issue of the collapsed wall has also launched a
flurry of finger-pointing and lawsuits among groups overseeing the
project.

“It has been frustrating,” said U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Los
Angeles, whose Westside district includes the project. “I wish they
could have foreseen these issues.”

Pushed by unhappy homeowners, Waxman requested the federal review of the 405 project this spring.
The
405 Freeway car-pool lane project cuts through a densely populated area
of universities, neighborhoods, and federal buildings. It also connects
two interchanges that for years have been considered two of the
nation’s most congested — the 405-101 and the 405-10.

Fed-up with the construction, residents say they schedule doctors
appointments and school pickups at off-hours to avoid traffic. On a
busy day, Encino resident Laurie Kelson said it can take her husband an
hour to make his seven-mile commute home from Santa Monica.

“I am
disgusted by the process, by the human hours that have been wasted,”
Kelson said. “From trying to go home, to work, or anyplace.”

“There’s no relief,” she added.

Officials
with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority point to many reasons
for the delay. The discovery of utility lines snaking through the area
led to time-consuming removal work. A redesign of the Mulholland Drive
bridge, sought by locals, also caused a delay, as did a landowners’
lawsuit over property near the Getty Center.

Metro Executive Director Krishniah Murthy said the hurdles facing the
project are immense. “We are literally carving right through mountains,
and moving a 60-year-old street,” said Murthy, referring to Sepulveda
Boulevard. “It is a huge effort.”

The 2011 collapse of the
retaining walls near Mountaingate Drive, Murthy said, had a ripple
effect on the entire project. That conclusion was also apparently
reached by the Federal Highway Administration, which did the review in
conjunction with Caltrans, Metro and other agencies.

The mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls support ramps and
stabilize the hillside. The structures are part of the more than 18
miles of walls built for the car-pool lane.

In his letter sent in
August to Waxman, Foxx wrote: “The December 1, 2011 failure of the
mechanically stabilized earth walls, not sound walls, built for the
project was the single biggest factor in extending the completion date
to September 2014.”

Foxx also indicated the utility line
relocation also greatly impacted the project. He sought to assure Waxman
that funding for the project, which received $189 million in federal
money, isn’t being mishandled.

“All delays are unfortunate,” Foxx wrote, “but I want to
emphasize that the Federal dollars invested in this highly complex
project are being properly expanded.”

Reached last week, officials at the FHWA said no additional report was generated beyond Foxx’s letter.

Omaha,
Neb.-based Kiewit is responsible for both the design and construction
of the project. Kiewit declined a request for an interview, and referred
questions to Metro.

Caltrans launched its own investigation on the December wall failure.
The agency report cites the failure of metal straps in the interior of
the wall, which ultimately caused the outside panels to buckle.
The Caltrans report states problems first surfaced a month
earlier, when workers noticed that panels on the Mountaingate entrance
wall began to “bulge outward.”

Caltrans immediately halted any use
of a similar wall system in other new highway projects and notified
other transportation agencies that might be using it. After the design
was retooled by subcontractor SSL LLC, the Scotts Valley, Calif.-based
company that supplied the walls, Caltrans allowed its design to be used
again.

Kiewit, SSL, as well as the project’s designer, global firm
HNTB, are in all court, suing one another. In court documents, Kiewit
alleges the wall system was “deficient and defective.” SSL has stated
the “drain design and installation were inadequate” at the site where
the wall collapsed, according to the Caltrans report.

Officials at Metro, named in one of the lawsuits over the walls, said the transit agency doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Metro’s
Murthy said Metro and Caltrans had inspectors out regularly, but they
were not able to spot the issue with the walls because the concrete
panels covered the metal bars.

Like many any other area residents,
Kelson remembers when the wall collapsed. “Everyone was like, hey,
what’s that?” she said. “It was huge, a whole big chunk fell out.”

Today,
the car-pool lane is roughly 10 percent over budget. That price tag
could significantly rise, depending on claims made about the delays.

Kiewit is paying for the cost of replacing the walls, Murthy said.
But there are also costs associated with delays caused by the collapsed
structures, and it’s unclear whether those will be borne by the
contractor or Metro.

A Metro report on the final costs of the project is expected in the next two months, Murthy said.
Amid
the criticism, Metro officials point to the project’s achievements.
Construction is 85 percent completed. Already, a 3-mile segment of the
new lane has opened. A recent traffic report stated drivers are already
seeing their commute times lowered due to the partial lane opening.

Still, officials said the final price tag on the epic project remains uncertain.

“Someone
is responsible to pay for the delay costs ... which item of work has
caused the delay in completing the project?” Murthy asked. “If we can
identify this contractor caused his own delays because of the defective
work, then our position is that you are not entitled to any delay
costs.”

Kelson questions whether local taxpayers or the federal
government will be liable for costs related to the delays. And the
federal review pointing to the retaining walls and utility lines doesn’t
calm her frustration.

“It feels like the window dressing,” Kelson said. “What
difference does it make? We want the project completed and we want to
know who is going to pay.”